Six
by Flitty
Summary: An attack on Harry splits him into six very different personalities. With a not-entirely-whole body, a dark lord set on immortality, and lots of homework, how will the Mane Six survive the school of doom? Abuse!InPrison!Dursleys.
1. The Split

**I own neither Harry nor the mane six. Or the rest of the franchises.**

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><p>A just-turned ten-year-old Harry's Aunt Marge had visited one day, and the boy had been pushed even harder than usual. He didn't find the chores too much; they gave him something to do, and there were far worse things to deal with.<p>

Like the shouting, for instance. Everyone yelled at Harry, for one reason or another. The Dursleys belittled him with comments of freakishness and laziness, the teachers were disappointed at his lack of progress in school, and the bullies saw him as an easy target.

Today, Harry had looked away from the pan for less than ten seconds, and when he turned back to the simmering bacon, it was too late. Vernon had noticed the minuscule difference in shades between a 'normal' piece of bacon, and the ones that Harry had cooked, in a truly obsessive manner.

Petunia had thrown him out of the house and into the back garden, where he spent the next three hours in the burning sun, and only a small birch tree for cover. It was one of those rare times when he was grateful for his small body, as he could easily fit into the trunk's skinny shadow.

If Dudley hadn't gotten bored of his brand new video games, none of this would have happened. As it was, the whale of a boy somehow managed to sneak up behind the emerald-eyed boy, no doubt breaking the laws of physics in the process of staying on his toes, and aimed a punch straight into the square of his back.

As Harry's spine curved backwards, unbelievably not snapping like the twig it resembled, he heard the barking of Aunt Marge's dog. He watched in minor disinterest as the four-legged incarnation of Death bored down upon him, snarling madly.

Harry had always ignored things like pain; near-starvation hurt enough that he had been forced to in order to survive on a day-to-day basis. This was the same. It hurt Harry as his left foot was torn to shreds in the mutt's jaws. At the same time, though, it really didn't bother him. This was just another creature to put on his 'list of revenge targets', as he called them. That name would be crossed off, along with the Dursleys', in less than two hours.

Harry grinned evilly as the Dursleys utterly failed to react in any way, simply walking silently back to the house and ignoring their blood-coated nephew. Marge had the decency to call Ripper back to her, but that was probably just to give him a dog-treat. The raven-haired boy pulled off his tattered belt in a sudden frenzy, realising his blood-loss situation, and tightened the length of worn leather around his shin, slowing the blood flow to the wound.

Their downfall had already begun, even as he dialled 999, pressed the call button, and held the device to his ears.

A feminine voice answered him. "Which service do you require?"

Harry paused, considering. He could get the police here, but an ambulance would serve the same purpose, as all he really needed out of the former were eye-witnesses. "Ambulance, please."

The operator seemed to pause at the youth of the voice, as well as the obvious pain it seemed to be in. The gap was hardly noticeable, however, and she quickly got the required service on the line.

Harry didn't give the new person a chance to ask questions, instead calmly telling them his location. "Hello, I'm in the back garden of number four, Private Drive, but I don't know the Postcode, so I hope that won't be much of an issue. The patient's name is Harry James Potter, and he was born on the Thirty-first of July, 1980."

Harry could hear a pitying tone in the man's voice as he asked, "What's your name?"

"Harry Potter, Sir." Just breathing was getting harder and harder for Harry, and his vision blurred even under his broken glasses.

"Well, Harry, I'm sure you're-" The man cut off, and Harry heard a shuffling of paper, as though he had made the connection between patient and caller. When he continued, his voice seemed even more sympathetic, though Harry would rather use the word 'infuriating'. "Do you know what happened, Harry? You seem perfectly fine, after all." Apparently this man couldn't read voices quite as well, or he would have noticed the frankly quite hard to miss strain under his voice.

Harry struggled to give a suitable answer, the world gradually darkening around him. All he said was "Blood loss," before he dropped the phone with a thud.

Harry Potter was lost to the world that day.

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><p>She groaned as she spotted a pink pony off in the distance. She really didn't like meeting anypony, much preferring the company of books, but she didn't exactly have a choice. Without any memories of this place, or any other place, for that matter, she would need to ask for directions to the nearest library. She walked slowly towards the pony, who was now bouncing around hyperactively, and took a deep breath. Without an obvious reason to start conversation, she felt incredibly awkward.<p>

"Hello, I'm, uh." She cursed to herself, only now realising that she didn't have a name. She quickly made one up on the spot, one that somehow felt right. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I was wondering if there was a library in this place?"

Looking around, Twilight realised that said place was a barren, white void. Well, not quite. On the floor were scattered bushes, flowers, grass and a few trees. Several buildings occupied each side of the village road, towering above the sparse trees, but everything was white. Even the birds soaring overhead blended almost perfectly into the sky only shadows giving an indication as to their existence, and Twilight was somewhat unnerved by the sight.

"Harry? Are you awake?"

Both Twilight and the strange pony jumped at the voice, the latter forgetting to answer Twilight's question, while the former forgot that she had asked it.

Twilight's mind went to overdrive. This place didn't exactly seem realistic, and that voice all but confirmed her theory that she was dreaming. It was strange, though, that the pink pony had heard it too. It would only make sense that only one pony would be aware of the outside world.

Making up her mind, Twilight steeled herself. "Hello? I think I might be dreaming, so just pour water on me or something!"

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><p>"Bwah!"<p>

The less than intelligent noise coming from Twilight's mouth had her blushing a little as she rubbed her eyes.

The first thing she noticed was her strange sleeping position. She was lying on her back, of course, like anypony was wont to do in a bed. However, her front legs lay beside her body, pointing in the same direction as her feet. She knew dragons, or baby dragons at least, slept in this way, but for ponies it was extremely uncomfortable. Except that this wasn't uncomfortable. It was like her front legs were _supposed_ to stay that way. 'Arms,' a hyperactive voice in her mind helpfully supplied, and she nodded in absent agreement.

It took a while to realise that she was soaked to the fur, but she couldn't care less about that at the moment.

Twilight had read about humans, or at least that was what her lack of memories allowed her to assume, and with the extra mini-limbs coming from her... hands and foot, the strange, rather thin clothes, and the complete lack of fur, she abruptly realised that she had become one of the mythical creatures.

Wait, foot? Why was that singular? Twilight wrenched open her eyes, blinked a few times and began to take in her surroundings. At this point, a rather unpleasant smell washed over her, certifying her location. Namely, that of a hospital. She glanced around at the few paintings on the white walls, the empty vase on her bedside table, and the two human doctors next to that, on her left. It wasn't lost on her that the male-looking one carried a rather large bucket, and wore an expression similar to the sheepish grin sometimes found on ponies.

Twilight's legs just felt wrong. There was something missing from one of them, something important. The probably-female doctor sat on the edge of her bed, and gave her an apologetic grimace. "Harry, I am so sorry. We couldn't save your foot, it was infected by that dog so we had to take it off you."

Twilight, or 'Harry' as she was apparently called here, gulped audibly and nodded, not remembering what happened but understanding the signs of amputation. She closed her eyes and flung the covers off her body, then opened one eye.

The right leg was exactly what she had expected; it looked just like a younger, less angular version of the human leg she thought she had seen in an ancient tome. The left one, however...

"Wait a minute," Twilight finally spoke up, after more than five minutes of staring. "How long was I out, for the stump to heal so well?"

Indeed, Twilight's leg, instead of ending in a bloody mess or a metric tonne of stitches, simply... stopped just above the ankle, as though somepony had cut it off, then sealed it with a perfect circle of skin. No stitches were in sight, and she didn't believe this sort of perfection possible, even with alicorn magic.

The male doctor shifted into a somewhat straighter position, coughed uncomfortably, and answered in a strained voice. "We don't know. We've had doctors from around the globe come in to have a look, but nobody has come up with any ideas. I'm beginning to think that strange fellow was right about it being magic, but i guess we'll never know for sure."

The female human took over, pushing the male towards the door. "You've been sleeping for a week, now, and a lot has happened. For a start, those _Dursleys_," she spat the word out like it made her sick, "have been arrested on charges of neglect and child abuse, after some of your bruises turned out to be from belts. You don't have to go back there, now, but that also means to don't have a place to stay."

"Who are the Dursleys?" Twilight asked, curious but also dreading the answer.

If the doctor was surprised, she didn't show it. "They have been your guardians since almost nine years ago, when your parents died in a car crash."

Twilight was grateful to this woman; she was the only person who spoke to her as a person, rather than a filly. She actually gave useful answers, rather than 'maybe when you grow up'.

"Why do you think I don't remember anything?"

The doctor gave a helpless grimace. "I don't know, Harry. It might just be from the shock, you could have hit your head at some point, or it might have been an unconscious decision on your part." She rubbed her temples and sighed. "A week ago, on July the Thirty-First, you called the emergency services. After calling, you told the ambulance your location, said something about blood loss, and passed out." She paused, as if to let it sink in. "We later found, thanks to spying neighbours, that you had been attacked by a visiting Aunt's dog, and left to die by your relatives. The dog was put down, your Aunts and Uncle were arrested, and your cousin was taken in by a nearby orphanage, separated from you after we found signs of bullying."

Twilight goggled. "That doesn't sound like a nice family at all! I guess the neglect is why I'm so short." A question popped up in the back of her head, and she couldn't see a reason to not ask it, so she did. "Why do you keep calling me Harry, anyway? My name's Twilight, isn't it? Anyway, I don't know your name yet."

The other participant in this strange conversation giggled. "I'm Amanda Baker, but don't you think Twilight's a strange name for a boy?"

'Colt,' Twilight's mind supplied in that strange sugar-rushed voice, and twilight blanched. She didn't even want to ask right now.

"I wouldn't know, I named myself less than twenty minutes ago," Twilight told the woman, deciding to opt for some of the truth. "I don't really care if it sounds girly, it's my name now, since I don't remember being Harry."

The conversation was interrupted by the male doctor from before, who had just tripped over a bin in his haste to appear next to the woman. Slung over his shoulder was a black drawstring bag, which he set on the bed next to Twilight, gesturing for her to open it.

Wrenching the mouth of the bag open, Twilight reached inside and carefully grasped a strange object. Pulling on it, her mouth fell open.

She knew instantly what it was, of course. A prosthetic foot. A flat piece of metal, forming a strange approximation of an actual foot, proved that. The metal bent upwards, then forwards, to keep the centre of gravity where it would be in a real foot, and a spring attached to a rotating joint helped to simulate a loose ankle. At the top was a sort of shallow cup or a socket, where she supposed the stump should go.

Hesitantly, Twilight pulled on her left leg, bringing the stump closer to herself. She brought the top of the fake ankle towards it, and jumped when the two pieces snapped together. Amanda rushed forward and pulled the prosthetic back off. Twilight thanked her profusely; the foot had given her stump a rather uncomfortable pinching sensation.

The man laughed a little sheepishly, then rummaged in the bag, finally pulling out...

"A sock?"

"A sock," he confirmed, and shoved it onto her leg. "The prosthetic is held on using magnets that we managed to get in your stump, and the pinching was because they're too strong. Just wear a thick sock, and you'll be fine."

Twilight tried the foot on again, and this time it didn't hurt. She carefully got out of bed and put her tiny amount of weight on the foot, then stepped it up a bit and began to hop.

Hours of practising later, Twilight finally settled down alone in her bed, and drifted off to sleep.

"Oh, you're back! You just disappeared and started talking with the other voices, and I didn't get to tell you that my name's Pinkie Pie, or at least I think it is!"

Twilight groaned.

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><p><strong>You're probably going to see lots of plot bunnies on my account, with almost none actually finished. I lose interest in things really quickly. If something stops being interesting for me, I'll abandon it, to return as and when I feel like it.<strong>

**Feel free to adapt my stories into something new, but make sure to give me a link- I'll want to read it, after all.**


	2. One Year Later

**Don't own, never will, etc.**

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><p>The system was happy.<p>

After Twilight and Pinkie Pie had begun exploring a year ago, more ponies had appeared until there was a total of six. Rainbow Dash was first, then came Rarity, Applejack and finally Fluttershy. As each pony appeared, their world slowly became more vibrant. The skies turned blue, the plants became green, and so on. Eventually, the small village was a paradise.

Meanwhile in the real world, the System was doing well in school. Rarity and Pinkie Pie organised all the parties in the school, and the latter defied physics so thoroughly that more than one quantum physicists were called in over their final year at primary school.

Applejack helped to tend to the trees and flowers outside, and earned several awards for contribution to the school, while Fluttershy happily played with the many animals surrounding the building.

Rainbow Dash beat the odds within a week of first arriving at the school; despite the missing foot, the System was soon known as the fastest runner in the school. The other five couldn't use the prosthetic quite that well, so they also became infamous as the most clumsy sportsman in the world

Meanwhile, Twilight was concentrating on converting her unicorn magic for use in the human body. It was tough going, as she had to unlearn all she knew about magic, then rebuild it into something similar, but without the need of a focus.

By the end of the year, she finally mastered it, able to levitate things, burn them, transform them and a whole host of other things.

Then the letter came.

It was early one morning, and Fluttershy was out on her daily stroll through the nearby woods. A sound caught her attention, a noise that was fairly common at this time of day. Glancing around for the source of the owl call, Fluttershy stumbled on the peg-leg, and the rest of the System hissed in protest.

"S-sorry," she mumbled, and heard the exasperated reply of Rainbow Dash in her mind.

_'Ugh, it's fine, but do you have to get distracted so easily?'_

Twilight cut in quickly, remembering how easily scared Fluttershy was. _'It wasn't your fault, Fluttershy, that owl did sound much closer than usual.'_ The shy girl perked up at that and nodded, once more scouring the trees for signs of the bird.

_'Ah reckon it's in that tree,'_ Applejack supplied, taking control of an arm and pointing. Sure enough, a tawny owl was perched on a branch, holding out a leg towards the bright-eyed boy.

_'Fluttershy, mind if I take the wheel?'_ Twilight asked, and the she gladly gave up control of the body, which the lavender unicorn snatched up immediately. She cautiously assessed the situation, considering her course of action, before Rainbow groaned and stole control of an arm, snagging the letter before relinquishing her grasp. "Hey!"_  
><em>

Twilight could hear the grin in Dash's voice as she replied. 'You snooze, you lose!'

Grumbling incoherently, Twilight pulled open the envelope and took out...

"Parchment?"

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><p>The system lay asleep in their bed, gathering in the town square of their mindscape. When Applejack finally stalked in, muttering about vermin and carrots, the meeting finally got underway.<p>

Of course, they could have just spoken from where they had been previously, this being their mind and all, but it couldn't hurt to see everyone else's faces.

Rainbow Dash started off, uncharacteristically serious. "Think we should go to this Hogwarts place?"

Rarity huffed. "I think it sounds far too messy for a lady. What kind of a pony names a school Hogwarts, anyway?"

"Ah think ya might be forgetting that they ain't ponies, Sugar cube. They're probably a little strange thanks to their magic. No offence, Twilight," she added, and the lavender unicorn giggled.

"None taken."

"I think we should go! I want to make a giant party for a giant castle-school!" Nopony questioned Pinkie's knowledge of the school building, instead simply noting that lessons would take place in a castle, and letting the party pony continue. "Maybe I should get really old balloons, because the castle's really old, or maybe ghost-cake for the ghosts! Ooh, and I need one for the eye-laser snake and the giant spiders and the dark lord of all evil badness and or baldness! Maybe he'll turn good if I use the party cannon!"

Everypony pretended to not notice the casual mention of an evil lord, even Fluttershy, who just wanted to see all the magical creatures that the school had to offer.

Twilight called a vote in favour of going, and only Rarity hesitated, before her curiosity got the better of her and she too raised a hoof.

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><p>"Mum, we got a letter from an owl and it's an invitation to a magic school which Pinkie says is in a castle and I need to write a reply asking for assistance because the owl's still waiting for one and we need someone to help us get books anyway bye!"<p>

Amanda Baker was understandably surprised when her usually calm adopted kind-of-but-not-daughter-who-lives-with-five-other-kind-of-daughters-in-a-male-human-body-even-though-they-are-all-female-ponies thrusted a letter into her hands, speaking at nine hundred words per minute and racing upstairs to their bedroom. After reading through the letter once, though, she was positively beaming.

There was something here for the entire system, all within the safety of what was apparently a castle. Twilight had the magical studies to look forward to, Rainbow had broom-flying, Fluttershy had Care of Magical Creatures and Applejack had Herbology. While Pinkie Pie and Rarity didn't have anything in particular, Pinkie could create large-scale parties and keep everyone happy, while Rarity would have a whole new range of test subjects.

Yes, this school could do a world of good for her girls. While they had each other, they had never really socialised with anyone else with the obvious exception of Pinkie, and it would be nice to see them chatting with friends outside the System.

The thought of living alone once more was a small price to pay for the sheer happiness she would see on her daughters' face for the next few days.

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><p>One week later, halfway through a nice, relaxed lunch of apple and banana sandwiches, a booming from the outside nearly scared Fluttershy out of her wits. After almost a minute of silence, the System blamed the noise on a broken-down car, and she picked herself up shakily from her hiding place under the table. With her mother at her side, the not-so-secretly terrified girl crept towards the front door.<p>

Another boom sounded and the door caved in a little as Amanda stepped in front of Fluttershy, who quickly pulled Applejack to the wheel. The booms continued at a steady pace, and the door finally gave way after ten hits.

Standing on the other side of the doorway, crouching slightly to peer inside, was a gigantic man with a rather sheepish grin on his bearded face.

"And who might y'all be, then?"

_'Applejack, now he'll probably think we're a farmer or something!'_ Rainbow complained, but Twilight overrode her.

_'I'm sure he won't come to such a strange-'_

"Are yeh a farmer or summat?"

Twilight groaned good-naturedly as her predictions were once more shot down by her incredible powers of fate-tempting. _'Okay, laugh it up, girls, it's not like you've ever been wrong about anything before.'_ She grinned evilly in Applejack's mind for a moment, putting the giggles to an abrupt halt, before continuing in a dramatic stage whisper. _'The headless chicken-leg incident.'_

Oddly, the temperature in the room seemed to drop, and the large man shivered involuntarily, coincidentally widening the doorway a large amount. Inside the mindscape, four ponies had frozen mid-laugh, then dropped their heads in shame and embarrassment. Applejack, who had barely managed to avoid chuckling before now snorted, barely handing control to Twilight before she burst into peals of laughter.

"Anyway," the giant was saying, "sorry 'bout tha'! Reckon I should knock more careful-like nex' time." He stooped into the hallway and effortlessly put the door back in place, then tapped it with a magenta umbrella, muttering some sort of spell. Twilight watched, really quite impressed, as the hinges sprung back together, the dents evened out, and the doorway reattached itself to the wall, once more completely intact.

After checking his handiwork for any flaws and nodding happily, the man introduced himself. "Me name's Rubius Hagrid, Keeper o' Keys at Hogwarts. Yeh'll know all about tha' from yer letter, o' course." Hagrid seemed to finally take in the System's full appearance, and his eyes widened impossibly. "Blimey, Harry, wha' on earth 'appened to yer leg? I on'y ever seen Moody with-"

"Excuse me, Hagrid," Amanda interrupted angrily as Twilight flinched slightly, and she put an arm around her daughter. "My dau- son's name is System Baker, not Harry as you seem to believe, and I don't feel you have any right to bring that painful subject up!"

It had taken an incredible amount of work to legally assume the name of System Twilight Pinkie Dash Rarity Jack Shy Baker, mostly due to the moral concerns of the name choices, but eventually Amanda had managed it for her daughters, just so they could answer to 'System' in public, and use that name officially.

In other words, it was just for convenience really.

Hagrid seemed well and truly cowed by now, and he looked down in defeat, before brightening a little. "Anyway, I'm here to show yeh where t' get all yer school stuff, Ha- System," he corrected, as Amanda shot him a glare. "Sorry. I saw yeh as a baby, yeh see. Was a great friend of yer... birth-paren's, 'fore they... but enough o' tha'," he suddenly declared, obviously trying to change the subject as a tear slid silently into his beard. "le's get to Diagon Alley."

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><p><strong>Forgot to add this stuff in bold before, and I was wondering what was missing.<strong>

**Anyways, next time, the System's reaction to Diagon, and maybe even the Express!**


	3. Shop Rage

**I don't own anything in this story, other than the prosthetic leg. That's patented and everything.**

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><p>"Welcome to Diagon Alley!"<p>

Fluttershy and Amanda stared around in unadulterated shock as the bricks slid away, revealing the main shopping centre for magical humans. The streets were packed with witches and wizards of all shapes and sizes, and some hags and vampires could be spotted intermingled in the crowds.

Towering above the street, and eerily reminiscent of the System's mindscape, stood gigantic buildings, with tens of signs littering the walls, some hanging dangerously above a few people. They could make out a bookshop, a place for potion ingredients, a pet shop, a broom shop, a place for robes, and a joke shop.

The System was flung into chaos. Everypony fought for the reins, hoping to go to that one shop they could relate to, until the prosthetic slipped on a stone in the road and they went tumbling towards the ground, landing splayed on their back.

Amanda helped them up, but not before berating them in a whisper. "Honestly, how many times have I told you to not fight? You could have hurt yourselves even more than you did!"

"Mum, we're fine," Rainbow Dash grumbled, having jumped in to take the force of the fall. "Just tripped over a rock, that's all."

Hagrid, completely oblivious to both the conflict and the fall, turned back towards the pair, pointing towards a great building that had just come into view. "Tha's Gringotts, run by Goblins and the mos' secure bank in England. Th' Potters have a vault in there, an' we need to get yeh some money."

"Pardon me, but did you say Goblins?"

Hagrid just waved a hand in response to Amanda's question as the others hurried to his side. "Goblins," he confirmed with a slight nod. "Yeh'd be mad to try an' rob it."

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><p>"Nex' up, Ollivander's," Hagrid told the System and Amanda, as the three turned off the path, and a decrepit-looking shop towered overhead. Still a little green in the face, the giant of a man shuddered. "Mind if I ge' me a li'l pick-me-up?" At the two shaking heads, he shuffled off for a brandy, leaving Amanda and her daughters to enter the shop.<p>

The inside of the building was covered in dust, as though it was forbidden to clean in any way, shape or form. Twilight warily cast a detection spell, and stiffened when she noticed a presence directly behind her. Spinning on her glorified peg leg and willing up her magic, she came face to face with a misty-eyed, grey-haired old man, who seemed to harbour just a touch of senility on his person.

"Ah, I've been expecting you, Mr Potter. Impressive, to have noticed me at such a young age." The man nodded mysteriously, then continued, snagging a long, thin box from a shelf and twirling it round his fingers. "Your mother-"

"Yes?"

Ollivander whirled around at the feminine voice and blinked under the harsh glare from Amanda. "I beg your pardon, Ma'am, I admit that in my later years, I have regretfully become far less observant."

Amanda didn't relent her gaze, instead stepping menacingly towards the visibly sweating wandmaker. "I'm _System_'s mother, and might I ask how you know his birth name?"

Ollivander tripped over his words, taking great care to use System's current name as the wands warned him of the hidden anger behind Amanda's voice. "I-I believe you understand System's past from Hagrid?"

Amanda nodded, and her eyes widened in understanding. "Of course, the scar! We'll need to get rid of that somehow if you want to have a proper education, otherwise you'll be swarmed by fans." She rolled her eyes at that, Dashie mirroring the action perfectly, and called over to her raven-haired daughter. "System, think you can make a glamour to cover it?"

Twilight slipped into control, and the milky-eyed wandmaker muttered something as the lightning bolt scar flickered, then returned in full force. Ollivander coughed lightly, then repeated himself for the others to hear. "That lightning bolt is a cursed scar. It cannot be covered by any but the strongest illusions. Although I am curious as to your power. A second ago your magic seemed to heavily favour agility, but now I am far less certain."

Dash shrugged, once again in front, and Ollivander's jaw fell ajar. He shook himself out of it, then plucked up another wand, muttering, "curious... Very curious..."

_'Ooh, I know! Let's keep switching!'_

Pinkie's prankster nature had surfaced once more, and even Fluttershy and Rarity embraced the idea with rather evil mental smiles.

Twenty minutes passed, the six switching around every time the wandmaker thought he had found the perfect wand. He began to grow more desperate as time went on, before he finally snapped at Dashie's fourth turn outside. "Oh, for Merlin's sake! You seem to be fine at wandless magic, I know when I'm not needed!" He wrenched up a blue box, then thrust it into the System's hands, Amanda giggling behind him. "That's a fake wand, pretend to use it so nobody will find out about your wandless magic as it will be very useful to you. Mahogany and unicorn hair, eleven inches if anyone asks, thanks for visiting and please never return!"

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><p>The System, their single parent and a gigantic man trotted down the street, Pinkie in the lead, humming a catchy tune as she skipped along. Hagrid jogged to catch up, shaking the ground slightly with each step, and he pointed towards what at first glance seemed to be a massive pair of scissors. "Tha's where we need to go nex', Madam Malkin's. Need yer robes, after all."<p>

Rarity instantly took over, although only Amanda noticed the tiny differences in behaviour as she continued skipping, tripping ever so slightly on the fake leg.

"This place is simply marvellous!" Rarity exclaimed, weaving between sets of robes, taking great pains to avoid knocking the clothing racks strewn across the floor. Eventually a harried Madam Malkin managed to usher the hyperactive fashionista-at-heart towards the fitting area, where a pale blonde boy was already waiting to be fitted.

"Hogwarts too?" the boy questioned rather rudely, but Rarity remembered that he was just eleven years old, and gave him a little leeway.

"Why, of course," she replied, but the blonde stole back the conversation, raising an infuriating eyebrow in her direction.

"My father's next door buying my books, and my mother's down the street looking at wands," he told her, rather unnecessarily. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully my father into getting me one, and I'll smuggle it into school somehow."

Nopony in the System liked this boy; he was rude, arrogant, a bully...

"Have you got your own broom?"

Rarity started as the boy actually let her speak. "Not yet, I'll have to wait until second year, obviously," she told him in a superior voice, and satisfaction came when the boy's face tinged with pink.

"Think you're better than me? Then what's your family name?"

Rarity raised an eyebrow, looking at him in the way that most would regard a chunk of dirt. "Baker, but I don't see how that could possibly matter."

The pointy-faced boy put on a smirk. "I'm a Malfoy, and we're powerful in the wizarding world. Watch yourself, mudblood, my father could get you kicked out of Hogwarts instantly."

Malkin bustled over, two sets of robes folded over an arm, and handed one to each person, before essentially shooing them away.

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><p>The next stop was the bookstore, and Twilight gleefully leapt into command, almost buying out the shop as she zoomed around, grabbing book after book in her magic. Hagrid, along with the store owners, seemed at a loss for words as she flipped through each book, before throwing each and every one onto the main pile, barring a select few, which she shoved back onto the shelves with far too much force, a look of disgust crossing her face.<p>

Eventually Hagrid recovered enough to gibber, "I-is he... wandlessly an' silen'ly... How?"

The shopkeepers just shook their heads incredulously as Amanda tilted her head slightly. "Is this strange, then? This... strength of magic?"

The male shopkeeper, who had unconsciously picked his quill up and was now absently tapping the inky end on his face, silently shook his head, before clearing his throat. "Not so much the strength as the fact that he isn't using a wand or words. Only powerful witches and wizards can use weak magic without both, but to carry those books without either... It's almost unheard of! Those have to weigh more than six people!"

By this time, the tower of tomes scraped the ceiling, and Twilight blushed slightly, placing the pile on the counter and handing control to Fluttershy before she could empty the vault in a shopping frenzy. Thanking Merlin for his magic, the shopkeeper waved his wand and muttered something, before a blue mist shot out of his wand, reforming into a golden seventy-seven, a silver six, and a brown zero. "That comes to Seventy-seven Galleons and six Sickles. And might I suggest going just down the road to buy a trunk with a library inside?"

* * *

><p>Nothing much happened for the rest of the day, and the System said goodbye to Hagrid, Pinkie doing the honours and actually speaking. It was kind of depressing, watching the last trace of magic vanish in front of them, but...<p>

"We're going bowling for your birthday, girls, so get moving and I won't take no for an answer!"

They still had their mother.

Come to think of it, leaving their only family behind would be even more heart wrenching, come the school term.

For now, though, the System looked forward to the bowling trip soon to take place.

* * *

><p><strong>That's a wrap!<strong>

**Sorry for my sporadic updates, but college is getting in the way of things, and my insomnia is apparently wearing off thanks to the workload.**

**I actually redid the Ollivander's scene completely after reading a review; same result with the fake wand, except with angry Ollivander instead of puzzled Ollivander.**

**Writing that scene reminded me of Discord's "For goodness' sake!" moment when he tried to brainwash Fluttershy. I thought it was fitting.**

**Next time, the System boards the Hogwarts Express!**

**Until then!**


	4. Train Ride

**Harry Potter and all related products belong to JK Rowling. Please support the official release.**

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><p>"Wow."<p>

That was all Amanda could manage as she and her daughters stepped through the false barrier, Twilight having cast a magical-leak detection spell to locate it after Hagrid ran off, somehow forgetting to give them directions.

They all liked the man, really, but he was just so scatterbrained sometimes.

Fluttershy just nodded mutely in agreement, gazing in awe at the bright red steam train parked in the bigger-on-the-inside platform.

Then things began to go downhill. Some older boy with dark skin and darker hair pointed at the System, muttering something towards two identical redheads. Surrounding people began glancing 'discreetly' in their direction, stopping and staring at the strange metallic object that the first-year had in place of a left leg.

The System was wearing the robes they had been given by Madam Malkin, which turned out to be custom-made. the shirt and jumper were the same as everyone else's, white under grey with a black and dark grey striped tie, which would apparently change colour after they had been sorted.

The System's trousers, however, held the first sign of deviance from the norm. Whereas the right leg stretched down almost to the floor, the left cut off just under the knee, revealing the black, white and grey mechanical leg.

This piece of technology, designed by Twilight mere days after the split, was just a simple socket on top of a peg leg with spring suspension. The spring was designed to have just the right amount of give to allow for easy walking, while still looking nothing like a foot.

None of the system particularly wanted the prosthetic to be foot shaped; Twilight had compiled plans for a semi-realistic foot, but the plastic used for 'skin' left the whole thing looking just human enough to be creepy, so that idea was gladly scrapped.

The System's cloak almost looked identical to the other first years', the only difference being in the cut at the bottom. In order to keep the mechanisms of the leg from jamming, the cloak was unsymmetrical, shorter on the left than the right.

With the shoulder-length messy black hair, the brilliant green eyes and the round glasses, this boy stood out remarkably, even among witches and wizards surrounding them.

Fluttershy shrank in at the attention that the System had yet to become accustomed to, huddling into Amanda's side as she gently placed a hand on the shy girl's back, subtly steering her towards the Hogwarts Express.

Coming to the open doors of the scarlet steam engine, the kindly parent planted a kiss on her daughter's forehead, and waved her off into the train, desperately holding back her tears at the sight of her girls leaving. It wouldn't do to make them feel guilty, after all.

* * *

><p>Hermione glanced up from her copy of Hogwarts: A history as the door slid quietly open, noting a messy-haired boy wearing glasses as she did so.<p>

"Umm... May I sit in here please? If you don't mind, that is..." The strange boy seemed to curl into himself, hiding behind his shoulder length mane, before Hermione nodded, glad of any sort of company.

"I don't have a problem with that, I'm Hermione Granger by the way, I didn't even know about-" Hermione stopped mid-sentence, blushing slightly in embarrassment as she realised that the boy had pulled the door half-closed, hiding most of his face behind the frame, leaving just an emerald eye showing. She coughed lightly, restarting the conversation in what she felt was a better manner. "Come in, I could use the company?"

The boy smiled shyly, figuring out that Hermione was unsure herself from her tone of voice, and stepped inside, a clink on the floor highlighting the step.

Hermione held back a gasp as the boy's left leg came into view, a mechanical prosthetic from around half way down the shin. He was walking on it as if it was a normal leg, like he'd had it forever.

"I'm..." The boy's name was lost under the hissing of steam leaving a funnel, and Hermione realised she was still staring at the left leg. The boy seemed to notice too, and crossed his legs, hiding it behind the one whole leg he had left. Hermione gulped, worrying about losing her first chance to make a proper friend, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you leg for you to need a prosthetic?"

Cowering under the attention, the boy mumbled something too quietly to hear. That was when things got strange.

The boy straightened up, pushing his glasses up his nose and sighing exasperatedly. He pushed his messy fringe out of his eyes and reintroduced himself in a confident, almost pompous tone. "I'm System Baker, you probably didn't hear it over the train earlier, and w- I lost my leg to an infected mad dog." He pulled a book out of his small trunk, then turned back to the bushy-haired girl, far more confident than his earlier shy behaviour would allow. He was almost like a different person! "I don't actually remember the dog, w- I have amnesia up until my birthday a year ago."

System- what an odd name- flipped open the book, and grimaced as his hair whipped around in the sudden breeze from the pages. Hermione wondered why, until she saw a small dark line on his head. Hardly daring to breathe, she asked, "Is that-"

"A lightning scar," he confirmed, wincing slightly as if caught stealing cookies. "I changed o- my name to System Baker after- I lost Harry's memory. My uncle and aunt by blood had apparently been abusing Harry for his accidental magic, and just left him to die. The doctors think he specifically wanted to get the Dursleys in prison, from the way he spoke on the phone."

During this speech, Hermione's eyes had grown wide and her mouth had dropped open, but she did note a few anomalies in his speech. For starters, he always referred to himself before his amnesia as a different person. From what she had read, this didn't happen often, unless the amnesiac didn't agree with his past self and consciously separated themselves.

His speech difficulty was far more of an enigma. He seemed to stumble on first person pronouns, starting with 'w-' before correcting himself with 'I', and it seemed to be the same with 'o-' and 'my'.

She couldn't think of any useful connections to make, and left it for now, vowing to research as soon as she was alone.

* * *

><p>The silence lasted a while as both students perused their choice of book, Hermione glancing up incredulously every now and then at the NEWT level book on wandless magic that System had picked.<p>

Eventually, however, the quiet was broken by the sliding of the door, which revealed a chubby, red-faced, pink haired boy who seemed embarrassed at something or other; Hermione didn't know what, but she could probably guess.

"Oh my stars, whatever happened to your hair?"

Hermione jumped at the strange mixture between male voice and feminine mannerisms that System had just used, and set about wondering just what was different now to twenty minutes ago, to change his... His everything, really. He was sitting in a way that would impress most royalty!

Suddenly he was back to a far more normal sitting position, pulling out his wand and waving it aimlessly at the newcomer's magenta hair as he went back to reading his book. Hermione was about to interrupt with a rant about the correct usage of wands, the need of incantations and the incredible danger that pointing a wand at a person could have, when a quiet pop sounded and the boy's hair became a bright blonde.

The bushy-haired future Gryffindor-or-perhaps-Ravenclaw gasped as she watched System throw the basic laws of magic out the window, while the new boy's jaw had dropped. "How did you do that?" she demanded more than asked, and System hunched over a little and blushed, obviously embarrassed.

"It wasn't much, I just-"

"-Broke about fifty laws of magic, I noticed," she exclaimed dryly.

The one-legged tween blanched, caught off-guard, and his mannerisms changed once again, back to shy-System. He huddled into the corner, obviously terrified at something. It took Hermione a moment to realise what that face was.

It was a face that she herself had once made- the face of someone singled out. Her teacher had always acted awkwardly when she had made that wide-eyed face back before year four in primary school, and she finally understood why as she attempted to reason out a new path for the conversation. As if by some miracle, the door slid open once more to reveal a pale, platinum haired boy, whose eyes searched around the compartment. The once magenta haired boy had unconsciously sat down as the door opened, but the pale boy had eyes only for System.

"Baker," he spat, tinged pink as the addressed smirked cockily back at him. "We meet again."

"What is this, a showdown between the hero of light and the dork lord of all?" System scoffed, and Hermione marvelled once more at his sudden attitude swap. The pale faced boy, for his part, pulled a smirk of his own onto his face, which now resembled strawberry ice cream in colour.

"Watch yourself, Baker. I didn't come here for you." He turned to face the other two, smirk still in place (though now the pink was slowly fading), and raised his voiced a little. "I heard that Harry Potter was on the train for his first year at Hogwarts."

System seemed to be trying incredibly hard to not burst out laughing. He managed it, too, for around three seconds, after which he broke out into hysterics, muttering something unintelligible under the gales of laughter. Hermione managed to make out a few words, like 'get' and 'out', before he stood up, still giggling like a maniac, and calmly pushed the pale faced boy back through the door, where the latter collapsed into a pair of rather large thugs. The platinum haired boy muttered a few curses and stalked off, the thugs following dilligently.

"Sorry about that," the remaining half of the conflict murmured, obviously unsure of himself. "W- I met that idiot in Diagon." He sniffed lightly in disdain, adopting that perfect posture again, and continued in a voice of mild disgust. "Draco Malfoy. Bullies his father, whom has a high standing in wizarding society, for privileges such as taking his own broomstick into first year. Also thinks lowly of those with 'impure blood', at least judging by the conversation we had." He turned towards the other boy in the compartment and asked, "I don't believe I caught your name before?"

"Ne-Neville Longbottom," the blonde stuttered, and sank further into the cushioned seat as Hermione, too, turned to face him.

Luckily, the door once again interrupted the awkwardness by sliding open, and a kind woman's voice asked, "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

System was instantly on his feet bouncing around like a madman as he inspected the goods in the most hyperactive way that was humanly possible. "I'll have..." He continued to glance around at the sweets, the savouries and the sours, before eventually yelling, "I can't decide!" He thrust a hand behind his back and pulled a wallet from nowhere, thrusting his hand inside and taking out a handful of Galleons. "I'll take eight of everything!"

* * *

><p>Twenty six Galleons and a considerably lighter trolley later, System began passing one of each product out to his new friends, who still stared at him like he was crazy. He probably was, Hermione's brain told her. After all, he had just... changed, more than five times in the train journey. It was like he was six friends at once, instead of just the one.<p>

Come to think of it, she should start categorising his different moods for the future. She began making a note of what she had seen.

1: Shy, afraid of being singled out, quiet, unwilling to draw attention to himself.

2: Generally cool and confident. Was reading NEWT level textbook. The mood I have seen using the most magic, can most likely perform wandless magic, and can perform wordless magic. Embarrassed when I acted amazed, possibly doesn't want to draw attention like 1?

3: Posh and proper, but seems to dislike pureblood supremacists. Fairly outspoken against people he dislikes. The most feminine mannerisms and vocabulary.

4: Confident when facing others. Seems to dislike Lord Voldemort, and unafraid to insult him. Outspoken and a little cocky. Possibly the closest mood to what the wizarding world expects of Harry Potter.

5: Hyperactive, bouncy and generally maniacal. Indecisive, liberal with money. Bought eight of each product for three people, seems to love sharing. Random and off the wall sense of humour. Seems to materialise objects from nowhere, similar to cartoon characters. Essentially a living cartoon character.

Having finished her list, Hermione turned to the gigantic pile of candies sitting next to her. A voice attracted her attention, and she sighed as she registered what it had said. "Aint y'all gonna eat that?"

Looked like she would need to write this down somewhere.

* * *

><p><strong>This took a while, what with Fenton PokePortal and other stuff, but I found it in me to continue. The next chapter will once again be in the System's POV.<strong>


	5. Stage Fright

**Harry Potter doesn't belond to me, and neither does MLP. I thought we went through this already.**

* * *

><p>The System curiously looked on as Hermione jotted something down in a notepad that she had procured from her bag. <em>'What do you think it is?' <em>Dashie asked the others, an eyebrow raised in question.

_'A notepad,' _Twilight deadpanned, currently in control of the body.

_'You know what I mean,'_ Dashie accused, sticking her tongue out at the bookworm of the System. _'Do you think it's about us?'_

_'Does it matter if it is?' _Applejack retorted, and the other two blinked. _'She's our friend, and she doesn't seem the type t' just blabber everypony's secrets everywhere. 'Sides, everypony'd just think she was a couple haystacks short of a barn if she told 'em!'_

Twilight nodded, glad that Applejack had stepped in, and went back to her light reading.

Nothing of note happened for the remainder of the journey. Neville took to gazing out of the window, having entirely failed to notice his missing toad. Said toad was currently with Fluttershy, who had control of the right arm and used it to play with the escapee while Twilight read her book of fire magic, converting the written magic into her own brand of magic. Usually, she'd just concentrate on the image of the fire that she needed: from match-sized to forest-sized. She marvelled at how the psuedo-Latin words seemed to transform the magic, but she ultimately couldn't get common wizarding magic to work in her favour, so just used her own brand.

In the mindscape, Rainbow Dash was practising her flying. She might never use it in the real world, but it did help her reflexes, as well as being fun. Pinkie had just beaten Rarity for the six-hundredth time, Applejack watching on as she watered the masses of tulips. All in all, there wasn't much to say as the time crept on.

That would eventually change.

* * *

><p>"An' there's Hogwarts!" Hagrid bellowed over the heads of the first years, who for the most part leapt out of their skin and whipped around to face the gigantic castle that towered impassively over them. Rainbow Dash, who was in control, whistled lowly as they slowly floated towards the other bank. A cry of "Mind yer heads" brought the students out of their trance, and most ducked, despite Hagrid being the only one tall enough to actually hit the low-hanging branches.<p>

The boats bumped against the shore, and the first years hopped out, quickly following the giant of a man (half giant, technically, as Twilight had found in a book) towards the castle. Hagrid rapped three times on the humongous front door, and it opened immediately to reveal a rather tight lipped woman, in emerald green robes, with her greying hair tied back into a bun. "The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid stated, and the addressed nodded politely.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she replied, and Dashie began tapping her foot at a tune only she knew, impatient to get inside and see the new school.

_'Ten pounds says that they say that every year,' _Twilight promised, and it took a lot of willpower for Dashie to not grin in the real world.

_'Twilight,' _she moaned pitifully, _'Stop making my job harder, or I'll end up getting us in detention!'_

_'It can't be that bad, surely,' _Rarity reasoned as Dashie began walking, following the rest of the students, but Twilight shook her head.

_'We have no idea how strict this school is,' _she reminded them all. _'For all we know, a smile in the wrong place could be enough to send us home. These wizards don't seem to have their heads screwed on tight enough, after all.'_

_'It could be the opposite, though,' _Dashie input hopefully. _'Maybe they won't be as strict as Primary school!'_

_'Ah seriously doubt that's possible,' _Applejack deadpanned, eliciting groans from the others minus Dashie. The last year of primary had been laden with bullies, and only Dashie could keep them in line. A number of nights that year had been spent nursing bruises. Maybe, though, a magical school wouldn't be as bad.

_'Anything's possible, AJ,' _Twilight returned and the others groaned again. Dashie's mental self looked almost happy, though. She'd always liked getting into fights with bullies, because it was the only real source of action she'd get. Maybe this Quidditch game that the System had heard about from Hagrid would help in that area.

The students were now in the gigantic entrance hall, and McGonagall had left them alone as she walked briskly through to the main hall. Some people began whispering among themselves. The System heard four words in particular being repeated, and Twilight put everything together. _'Okay, girls, the four words are houses, and you share dorms and lessons with your house, and each house has certain connotations. Gryffindor is for the brave and bold, and they're rivals with Slytherin, which is for the cunning. Slytherins are apparently evil or something, but I don't believe a word of that. Hufflepuff is for the loyal, but people seem to think it's for the leftovers, and Ravenclaw is for the book-smart. Which leaves us with a problem.'_

_'Which house are we?' _Fluttershy asked, as a strange song began to explain exactly what Twilight had worked out.

_'Ah reckon we should work out which of us go where, then work it out from there,' _AJ suggested, and Twilight nodded, already making suggestions to herself as to which house the others would belong in.

_'Let's start with the easy ones,' _she told the System, taking charge as she was wont to do. _'I'm a Ravenclaw, and Pinkie's probably a Gryffindor.'_

_'Dashie's a Hufflepuff or Gryffindor,' _Pinkie added, and the others took her opinion as fact, as always. _'Rarity's a Slytherin, AJ's a Hufflepuff, and Fluttershy's a Gryffindor!'_

_That _caused their heads to turn. Fluttershy, a Gryffindor? That was like calling Dashie a Ravenclaw, or Neville a Slytherin! _'Um, Pinkie-'_

_'Definitely a Gryffindor!' _the party pony interrupted the shy pegasus, stunning them all into silence while their minds rebooted.

_"Abbot, Hannah!"_

_'Oh, the sorting's begun,' _Twilight observed meekly, hoping to forget about the previous conversation. The System watched as name after name was called, and the corresponding person stepped up to the ripped hat sitting at the front.

Applejack groaned as 'Baker, System' was skipped over. _'Y'all know what this means, right?'_

_'It means we'll be called up as Harry Potter,' _Rarity replied, and they all shuddered lightly.

"A-are you cold?" someone asked from next to the System, and Fluttershy automatically turned to the right, finding herself face to face with Neville.

"Oh, um, I'm fine," she mumbled, absently placing a hand where the blonde's toad was about to jump. Sure enough, Trevor leapt onto the hand and was quickly given back to the stuttering boy.

* * *

><p>"Granger, Hermione!"<p>

Glad for the distraction, Fluttershy turned to clap as Hermione was quickly sorted into Gryffindor. She might not know the girl very well, but it was only polite, after all.

* * *

><p>"Longbottom, Neville!"<p>

"G-good luck," Fluttershy whispered as Neville stumbled forwards, tripping on the hem of his robes. Dashie cackled in the mindscape, but Shy silenced her with a _Stare_. The rainbow-maned pony whimpered slightly, and the others sans the butter-coated pegasus shuddered. She was scary like that.

After a minute's wait, the hat yelled "Gryffindor!" much to the surprise of the entire System, and Neville raced to sit down, Twilight stealthily plucking the hat off his head to save him from any further embarrassment. Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow as the decrepit headwear was deposited in her hand, but although she searched for a good few seconds, she didn't seem able to sense that the magic belonged to the System.

* * *

><p>"Potter, Harry!"<p>

The entire hall went silent as that name was called, the entire student body waiting to get a glimpse of the Boy-Who-Lived. Fluttershy gulped, and gave up control to the others, the anticipation proving too much for her. Rainbow Dash controlled the left leg, Applejack took the right, and Twilight kept the rest of the body stable as the System stepped up, holding back nervous shivers as they went.

"I changed my name to System Baker a year ago," Twilight spoke clearly, directing the information towards the Headmaster of Hogwarts, as well as Professor McGonagall.

The latter nodded silently, then spoke up again. "Baker, System."

The System could hear low muttering begin to form as Dashie stepped forwards on the half-leg, punctuated by a loud click as the bottom of the prosthetic touched the stone floor. They stepped forwards again and again, every second step announced with yet another click, and Twilight chanced a look at the staff table.

Professor Dumbledore, the teacher that had shown up most often in the unicorn's research, had a small smile in place as he regarded them, but that twinkle that she had seen in his eyes in the moving photographs was dimmed, almost to the point of non-existence, and his face seemed pale.

Professor Sprout, long standing teacher of Herbology, had a look of sympathy and pity, the latter of which served to slightly aggravate Dashie, Applejack and Rarity. They could almost feel her making assumptions, marking her as disabled before ever meeting her. She had her heart in the right place, but she would need to learn that System Baker was nothing if not independent.

Professor Flitwick, the equally experienced Charms teacher, didn't even seem to care that the leg was a fake. He had the air of someone who believed that physical disabilities were just an obstacle to overcome. Not that anypony could blame him; being all off three feet tall, the man probably knew what it felt like to be singled out because of some abnormality.

Professor Snape, the Potions master, seemed to pale with every step that the System took on the prosthetic, but still found it in him to sneer at them. Fluttershy's natural cringe almost showed itself in reality, but Twilight managed to crush it down with the help of Rarity, moving quickly past the bitter professor.

The only other teacher of any real note was McGonagall herself, whom had showed little emotion throughout the entire sorting, remaining impartial to Gryffindor and Slytherin alike. Now, however, they could see that she was holding back shudders, most likely imagining what had gone so wrong to end with a missing leg.

The student body was whispering among themselves, sectioned off into four tables representing each house. The System couldn't understand what any of them were saying, but from the occasional glances in their direction, it was about them.

_'We should throw them a party!' _Pinkie yelled suddenly. The others had grown far too used to this, so they all nodded distactedly in their minds.

_'Sure,' _they mumbled in distracted unison, and Pinkie pumped a hoof into the air, grinning madly.

Finally reaching the stool, Dashie took full control of the body and let them fall onto the minuscule seat. The dirty, ripped hat was lowered carefully onto their head, covering their eyes and segregating the System from the rest of the world.

* * *

><p><strong>Cliffhanger!<strong>

**Are you excited because I'm excited I've never been this excited well except for that time I saw Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire coming soon in Game one day but I mean really who can top that?**


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